Can Anna become a new North Texas high school football dynasty?

After winning program's first UIL state title, why are Coyotes so confident after moving up to 5A? It's in their DNA

Anna won its first-ever state title in December of 2023 / Tommy Hays

ANNA, TEXAS - Not very far from budding Texas high school football powerhouse Anna High School, several houses are in the process of being built, whereas others have just been built.

As one traverses the streets of this town in Collin County, located at the very northern tip of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, they see more housing developments under construction.

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Without a doubt, the town of Anna has become a desirable place to live for some because of its suburban feel while continuing to maintain a down-home country living approach, with farmland still adjacent to the sprawling new neighborhoods.

The town’s accessibility is another factor in Anna’s growth. It’s located just off U.S. Highway 75, a virtual freeway which originates in downtown Dallas as the North Central Expressway and goes through similar booming suburban towns as Allen, McKinney and Melissa while continuing its interstate-like procession up to Sherman and Denison and into the Oklahoma border.

Just four years ago, the population of Anna was 17,370, when the most recent census figures were released. In facts released by the website World Population Review, the town has nearly doubled in size since then, with a population of more than 30,000, at 30,878, a growth rate of 12.28 percent annually and a whopping 77.77 percent since that last census was taken four years ago.

One of the newer residents of Anna who became part of the booming population growth in recent years is Seth Parr, who is entering his fourth season as the head coach of the Coyotes’ high school football team.

“When I first got here, there was no housing,” Parr said. “There was three houses for sale, so you didn’t have much to choose from and you were going to pay a pretty penny on a house to now, I think, there’s like 600 houses that are on the market and only seven have been sold.

“Yes, it’s grown and it will be growing; maybe we kind of out-built more than our growth right now as far as filling it in but it will fill in.”

Much like the town itself, the Coyotes’ program has experienced a rapid ascension. Prior to Parr’s arrival, Anna was a program that didn’t have a great degree of success.

The Coyotes hadn’t won a district title since 1981. And they went 77-129 in a 20-year span prior to hiring Parr, going 3-7 in 2020, the season before he was hired.

Parr also didn’t have ties to the area or the Metroplex, as he was raised in West Texas as the son of a coach, Steve, who guided programs in that region for more than 30 years. Seth ended up being a coach himself, and was a successful one in West Texas, guiding Amarillo Caprock and Lubbock Coronado, where he went 12-1 in 2020.

But Parr was ready to take on a new challenge. And Anna was ready for a winner.

He heard about the opening and took the proverbial leap of faith. It’s been a perfect match since then.

“I wanted to try something new and I liked this area and I wanted to try the Dallas area,” Parr said. “Everybody always says, ‘A West Texas guy can’t win down here,’ and I’m a big believer of I like doing things people don’t think you can do, so that’s how I got here.

“When I met with them, the community all wanted to win. … It looked like the community was committed to win and they were wanting a winner, so I kind of showed them how we had to do it and they said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

In just his second season, Parr fashioned the Coyotes into not only a winning team but a contender. They went 7-3 his first season but missed out on the playoffs; then in 2022, they went undefeated in the regular season and went four rounds deep in the playoffs before falling to China Spring.

Parr’s leap of faith was paying off. Now he had the belief the Coyotes could win the whole thing entering his third season.

“Did I know (Anna would be a title contender) when I first started?” Parr asked rhetorically. “Probably not, but I started getting a pretty good feeling about year two of we were getting close and I really thought we were going to win it last year.”

Those instincts proved correct, as the Coyotes marched through the 2023 schedule undefeated and ended up winning the first state title in program history with a 26-0 win against Tyler Chapel Hill for the 4A Division I championship.

“It’s a family deal, so having my wife and my kids there that they have had to sacrifice a lot of their time with me in order to get this, so the emotions of doing it as a family and doing it together and seeing my girls real happy and my wife relieved and excited, and then also with my dad being a head coach for 36 years and he got close but never doing it, that was a big moment for me as far as doing that,” Parr said. “Then having my brother there who’s a coach at Louisiana Tech, it’s just a family deal that we’ve been chasing this crazy thing for a long time and they’re hard to win, and being able to do it was kind of unreal feeling, but one that I expected to have.

“I never thought about not winning it, I just always thought about getting the opportunity to win it.”

And now that Parr, and Anna, finally has that elusive state title, what’s next for the Coyotes? Is it possible that they can do this again, and even joining the ranks of perennial North Texas-area state champions like Duncanville, DeSoto, Aledo, South Oak Cliff and Gunter?

The Coyotes will find that out right away, especially with another move up the ranks, appropriate for a town, school and program experiencing upward trajectory.

Over the offseason, Parr and the Coyotes learned they will be moving up from 4A to 5A Division II beginning this season. It was an announcement that didn’t take them off guard.

“We expected it, that’s not a shock to us and we’re excited about having a district like this,” Parr said.

The district Parr is referring to is District 4-5A DII, which will be full of high-caliber programs seeking to get what Anna already has.

Melissa, right down the road from Anna on U.S. 75, also has experienced a rapid degree of growth in its town, school and program. The Cardinals are still basking in the glow of their fairly new Kenny Deel Stadium and went 10-2 last season.

Lucas Lovejoy went 12-2 a season ago and have produced several Division I prospects in recent years. The Leopards also made headlines this offseason with the hire of a new coach, Todd Dodge, who has won several state titles in his stellar career.

Frisco Emerson won 12 ballgames a season ago, and played in the 5A DII semifinals. They bring back six starters on both sides of the ball.

Then there’s Walnut Grove from another rising Metroplex suburb nearby, in Prosper. The Wildcats fielded their first football program a year ago and went 3-7 as an independent but will be making its UIL debut this season, as they return 10 offensive starters and seven on the defensive end.

The Coyotes definitely have their work cut out for them in their new district. And elevated expectations. SBLive picked Anna to win its district.

"We’re extremely talented this year; last year we were extremely talented, too, but we had a lot of chemistry because everyone was playing together," junior quarterback Ziondre Williams said, "but this year, we’ve got a lot of athleticism and as long as we can play as a team and know what we’re doing, we can go back.

“We’re not scared to play anybody and we’re not scared to play any team this year. We know what we want and what we’re supposed to be expecting.”

Anna’s non-district slate is just as daunting. The Coyotes open the regular season at home on Friday against Oakland (Tenn.), which was a state runner-up in its classification last year but had won three straight championships prior to that.

Then the following week, Sept. 6, it will be a clash of champions at Coyote Stadium as Anna welcomes in Gunter, which won the 3A DII title in 2023.

After a bye week, the Coyotes will get tested right out of the gate in their new district. They are at home on Sept. 20 against Lovejoy; then travel down 75 to Melissa on Sept. 27.

“Moving up to 5A is another opportunity for us to show everyone Anna isn’t just a small town. … We work hard and probably harder than a lot of schools,” senior receiver Ronald Bell said. “The team is more than excited.”

BACK UNDER CENTER

Anna QB Ziondre Williams attempts a pass against Tyler Chapel Hill in the 4A Division I state championship in 2023. / Photo by Tommy Hays, SBLive

Perhaps the biggest reason the Coyotes can pick up right where they left off last season, even with the challenge of a new class and a new district, is the return of Williams, who says he spent his summer working on his footwork in the pocket and his deep ball.

He took over as the starting signal-caller last season and produced huge numbers, throwing for 2,930 yards and 39 TDs and adding 838 yards and nine TDs rushing. Plus helped Anna in its postseason surge to the championship.

Williams is by far not the only weapon back on offense. Anna brings back senior tailback Edward Chumley, who had 1,069 yards and 15 TDs and was also named the offensive MVP of the Coyotes’ title-game win, accounting for all three of his team’s touchdowns.

The Coyotes also bring back a solid offensive line group, headed up by senior guard Jesse Vazquez and rising sophomore tackle Peyton Miller, who is already receiving Division I offers.

“Our offensive line is probably the biggest and the best that I’ve had,” Parr said. “But every one of them, from (senior) Dylan Jeffers to (juniors) Marcos Rivera and Ryland Crawford and then the backups, they’re very aggressive."

Anna’s receiving corps have also gotten a boost with the return of Bell, who missed most of last season - including the playoffs and the title game - with a broken ankle. Before that injury, he had tallied 526 yards receiving and found the end zone seven times.

Knowing he wasn’t in full uniform the day Anna won its first title, Bell undoubtedly is eager to get back onto the field and help the Coyotes try to run it back.

The Coyote receiving corps is further bolstered by the addition of senior Ashton Ansley, a move-in from Tomball Memorial who has already committed to Louisiana Tech, and junior Ace Traylor, who played last season at Frisco Panther Creek.

“My opinion is our offense has been elite and ran by one of the best mentors and coaches in high school football,” Bell said. “This year, we just added more weapons and we are more than prepared.”

NEW-LOOK DEFENSE

While Anna returns practically its entire offense from last season, with a few new faces, it’s a different story on the other side of the ball.

The Coyotes will have to virtually rebuild on the defensive end, losing a ton of starters from that title squad; not to mention losing defensive coordinator Efrain Ramos, who took over as the head coach at Lamesa, with former Mansfield Timberview assistant Robby Sevier taking over in that role.

But Parr remarked he has liked how the defense has progressed this offseason and into summer workouts.

“We’ve gotten better, especially on defense,” Parr said. “The offense is probably one of the best offenses that I’ve coached from being at a bigger school. ... I think we can score at will if we want and if we don’t get hurt."

“Defense is something that’s going to have to improve and I’m really happy with the steps they’ve taken in order to get better and I think we’ve got a great opportunity.”

The Coyotes will get a huge boost with the arrival of senior safety Zay Gentry, a move-in from McKinney and an SMU commit. Parr is also moving senior Erik Bowen - who started all 16 games at receiver last season - to one of the cornerback positions.

In addition, Parr is very high on a trio of linebackers, juniors Austin Crowley, Brennan Williams and Cash Williams, while another junior, Kaiden Banks, may anchor the defensive line.

‘SO WHAT NOW WHAT’

Anna players celebrate a play during the 2023 UIL 4A Division I state title, a loss to Tyler Chapel Hill. / Photo by Tommy Hays, SBLive

One major byproduct of the Coyotes’ quick ascent under Parr has been his mentality to make Anna more of a college-type program. It’s something similar to the famed “process” that was popularized by former Alabama coach Nick Saban.

It’s evident with the facilities located on the high school campus. In keeping with the theme of the upward growth, Anna now has a state-of-the-art field house that was built in 2022 featuring an indoor practice field, tons of weight equipment and lots of office space.

In Parr’s view, it takes a special kind of player and person to wear the Coyotes’ purple.

“We try to make it so hard that you’ve got to really want to play football to do it and we try to put a college-like (approach where), if you leave here, you’re going to be prepared to go play somewhere, and we have tried a certain group of people that are serious about that,” Parr said. “So if you’re serious about it, it’s kind of easy to motivate you."

Those players that have made it through have seen the fruits of that approach, especially with a title in tow.

“At first it was definitely a shock, but we all see why and how it works,” Miller said. “Coach Parr has very high standards and is not afraid to push for facilities and extra program enhancements.

“As long as he has support, we will continue to be successful. It’s pretty cool when I talk to college coaches about our program and they are impressed with how it’s structured. They tell me that our guys will be very prepared for the college program and commitment structure if we play at that level.”

Ziondre Williams remembered the Coyote program prior to Parr’s arrival, and has marveled at how the coach was able to turn things around rather quick.

“Before Coach Parr got here, I didn’t think I was going to go anywhere, I was just going to be a high school football player, I wasn’t going to go to college and play football, but when he moved here, he changed the whole atmosphere,” Williams said. “He made it kind of like a university.

“We get a lot of our stuff from Coach Saban; Coach Parr looks up to Coach Saban a lot, so he’s not the type of coach to let someone have a bad attitude while everyone else is happy, he’s going to make sure you do the same thing everyone else is doing and do it right. … He treats everyone the same and he’s really smart, too, he knows exactly what he is talking about. He’s the reason I got to where I am now; I’m the one playing but if it wasn’t for Coach Parr, I probably wouldn’t be in the shoes I’m in right now.”

And if the Coyotes thought Parr was satisfied after finally winning a championship last December, those thoughts were quickly dissipated in the offseason. 

“Coach Parr has a saying he always says now, ‘So what now what,” meaning last year, we won the whole thing,” Bell said. “Now what are we going to do?” 

Sounds very Saban-esque.

ALL ABOUT THE ‘U’

Anna players celebrate a touchdown against Tyler Chapel Hill in the 2024 UIL 4A Division I state championship. / Photo by Tommy Hays, SBLive

Parr’s college-like approach to developing the Coyotes into winners are even reflected in the team’s logo.

It’s a drawing of a howling coyote with a capital letter in the background. But it’s not an ‘A’ for Anna. Instead, it’s the letter ‘U.’

So what does the ‘U’ stand for? It stands for University, and Anna also refers to itself as Coyote U, which is even used in its official athletic website. But Parr - also Anna's athletic director - remarked the ‘U’ can stand for a number of things.

“The ‘U’ is like a slogan, like Nike, just do it,” he said. “The ‘U’ means a lot of things for a lot of different people, so there’s not one slogan that really kind of (signifies) it. What we really believe and what my deal is that it’s a higher standard, so we’re going to do things like getting you prepared to play at a university if you come here. … We don’t play both ways, we’re going to have a nutritionist, a nutrition program, we’re going to have strength coaches that are full-time strength coaches, we’re going to do things at a high standard so when you move on from here, it’s known.

“A university is a higher level of learning; well, the ‘U’ here is a higher level of football and sports, we don’t just use it here, we want you to be at a higher level.”

The indoor facility? Parr said that’s part of being the ‘U.’

“I always say, you get what you pay for and you get when you put into something,” he said. “The steak I buy, maybe not all meat cuts are the same, so you can buy the steak at a local meat market that’s not going to be the same as a 44 Farms steak, so what we want is when you taste the difference, you’re definitely going to want the higher end of the two.

“We don’t want to go down, we want to go up so if there’s something we need, we want to have the ability to go get it.”

And much like the houses that are cropping up just a stone’s throw from campus, the Coyotes believe they’re just getting started with their foundation as a program that’s built to last.

“It’s crazy, like last year, we didn’t have houses around our school and this year, we’ve got several new neighborhoods,” Williams said. “We’re growing a lot and it’s bringing a lot of attention here and that’s what we need, that’s what we want.

“People think, just because we lost 12 starters last year doesn’t mean we can’t get 12 new starters and do the same thing. We’re all coached by the same organization, so I feel like if we can do it last year, we can do it this year; it’s just about how bad do you want it.”

-- Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveTX